1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to devices for maintaining articles in spacial positions and, more particularly, to a spring loaded facing device for urging package commodities towards the front of a shelf.
2. Description of Related Art
In the retail sales industry, there is often a need to display a supply of products for selection and purchase by consumers. Various display cases, racks, hangers, open shelves, and the like have been used for this purpose. Many products, such as pre-recorded videotape cassettes, are stored in shelf-like wire racks affixed to walls or free-standing partitions and the like in retail outlets.
It is often desirable to store the products for sale on such racks in a particular orientation, such as with one product at the front of the shelf rack and identical products similarly oriented and stacked behind the front product. After a consumer has removed the product at the front of the shelf, it is desirable to "face" the remaining products, i.e., move the remaining products toward the front of the shelf. On horizontal shelves, particularly deep horizontal shelves, if the products are not moved towards the front or face of the shelf, the products will not be properly displayed to the customer in order to achieve desired merchandising and marketing effects, such as the prominent display of a famous or well-promoted label or brand name. It is also desirable to maintain the products to be sold in an organized fashion so as to present an orderly and attractive appearance to customers.
Automated devices for facing products on retail outlet shelves have been previously proposed. However, many such known devices are complicated and form an integral part of the shelving unit, making it difficult to retrofit the devices to existing shelving. For instance, the Robertson U.S. Pat. No. 4,899,893, issued Feb. 13, 1990, discloses a facing device including an elongated base element as part of the shelf. The base element has a fixed front stop and a sled mounted for slidable movement between the front and rear of the base element. An "article-engaging" panel projects upwardly from the sled to engage products placed on the base element. A spring urges the sled and thus the products toward the front stop. The spring has one end affixed to the front stop, extends along the base, and coils behind the panel. The tendency of the spring to return to its coiled shape biases the panel forwardly. Especially due to the sled mounting, the sliding mechanism is rather complicated and bulky, thereby taking up valuable space on the shelf which could be occupied by a product to be merchandised.